Straight talk in an age of 不信

Last updated at 16:55 06 October 2004


An actor's flounce and 繁栄する in Brighton, plain talk in Bournemouth; a drippingly hammy 業績／成果 from Tony Blair last week, simple straightforwardness from Michael Howard yesterday; and in that telling contrast the 乱打するd, beleaguered Tories may just have 推論する／理由 to hope.

It would, of course, have been absurd for the Tory leader to engage in flights of rhetorical fancy. With his party fourth in Hartlepool, languishing in the 投票s, 包囲するd by UKIP, challenged by the Lib Dems and written off by some pundits, 壇・綱領・公約 posturing would only have 招待するd ridicule and 不信.

No, this was a moment for unvarnished language and sober realism. And with those 武器s, Mr Howard went to the heart of the 問題／発行する 直面するing not just the 対立, but the 政府 too: the 危機 of 信用. New 労働's dishonesty and spin, に先行するd by the sleazy Major years, have all but destroyed public 約束 in 政治家，政治屋s, whatever their party.

So why should anyone believe the Tories? In the speech of a lifetime, Mr Howard was （疑いを）晴らす. "We will only 約束 what we can 配達する. That's why we're setting out a （疑いを）晴らす 時刻表／予定表 for 活動／戦闘. What we'll do. When we'll do it...There will be no wiggle room".

Indeed. It is a 手段 of his 真面目さ that 投票者s will be able to 裁判官 from day one if a Tory 政府 is keeping 約束.

Take 罪，犯罪. On his first day in 負かす／撃墜するing Street, he will 貯蔵所 the nit-選ぶing forms that keep police 手錠d to their desks instead of on the （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域. In his first week, he will end 労働's 早期に 解放（する） 計画／陰謀 for 囚人s. In his first month, he will start 新採用するing 5,000 more police a year.

And his rigorous 時刻表／予定表 doesn't end there. 回復するing discipline to schools... setting a date for the 国民投票 on the EU 憲法... scrapping bureaucratic Whitehall 的s in the NHS and education... 回復するing the link between 年金s and 収入s... 取り組むing the 亡命 shambles by pulling out of the 1951 条約 on Ref ugees... all these will be in train within weeks of a Tory victory.

In the longer 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語, he looks 今後 to his boldest endeavour yet - a 十分な-規模 review of our 関係 with the EU, which would 伴う／関わる getting Britain out of the 悲惨な ありふれた 漁業s 政策 and 身を引くing from the burdensome social 一時期／支部. Time was when such a 提案 - 必然的に 刺激するing a 長，率いる-on 衝突／不一致 with Brussels - would have torn the Tories asunder. Today, it not only goes with the 穀物 of party opinion, but with public opinion too.

And 税金? Mr Howard 主張するs he's not like Tony Blair. "I'm not going to make 約束s I can't keep". But he is 決定するd to 削減（する） 税金s "when I can" and ーするつもりであるs to stop the rises planned by New 労働 after the 選挙 "dead in their 跡をつけるs".

信用... accountability... 信用性... if Michael Howard has begun to 埋め立てる these virtues for his party it is not because of oratorical tricks, but because he spoke from the heart. As the son of a 難民 from unimaginable tyranny, he 借りがあるs his life to Britain. His emotion was unfeigned when he said he wants to put something 支援する.

But more than anything, this was a Tory leader 用意が出来ている refreshingly and unequivocally to 支持する the moral 事例／患者 for 保守主義: low 税金s... smaller 政府... families spending their own money far more wisely than any 政治家，政治屋 or bureaucrat ever could... and the self-依存 that is the ultimate 防御壁／支持者 against the '権利s' culture that is so 損失ing to modern 市民の society.

Mr Howard will never be a cuddly 政治家，政治屋. He will never be an actor. But he spoke for the best of Britain yesterday. After seven years of mendacity and 無資格／無能力 from Mr Blair and his spinmeisters, the 広大な／多数の／重要な challenge for the Tories now is to carry that 会議／協議会 message to the 投票者s of tomorrow.

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